Family tries to cope with Maloney's tragic death; ‘He was doing what he loved'

Friday

Apr 13, 2012 at 10:58 AMApr 13, 2012 at 11:04 AM

By HOWARD ALTSCHILLERThe Portsmouth HeraldN.H. News Exchange

PORTSMOUTH — Laura Pantelakos first met Michael Maloney when he was a young cop in North Hampton and she was running Laura P's restaurant in the town in 1990 or 1991. Not long after that Maloney met and married Pantelakos' daughter, Charlene.

Pantelakos spent Thursday night in Portsmouth Regional Hospital with her grandchildren, Michael, 22, of Eliot, Maine, and Serena, 28, of Rochester and was with them when they received the tragic news that their father had been shot and killed during a drug raid earlier that evening.

“The only thing I could tell the grandchildren last night was that their father was doing what he loved to do, that that's the nature of the business he's in and that's how he lost his life. But that was no comfort to them.”

“They were devastated, in shock last night,” Pantelakos said. “They can't believe their father is gone.”

Pantelakos' daughter and Maloney divorced, and Maloney is now remarried to Peg Maloney, but Pantelakos said she never lost her affection for her former son-in-law. She said Maloney, a North Hampton native, had recently become a grandfather and 14-month “MJ” was the apple of his eye.

Pantelakos said she wasn't surprised to see him taking on such a dangerous task just eight days before his retirement.

“He believed in doing away with the drugs out on the streets,” Pantelakos said. “He believed in keeping the streets safe. He didn't ask for much.”

“Michael was very professional, courteous and kind. I saw him as a person who loved his kids and his new grandson. I saw him as a person who would put his life on the line for anyone.”